Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: Banners said 'You have the records of our abuse'

VICTIMS of child sex abuse wept openly in the street as the Royal Commission commenced its long-awaited hearing this morning.

More than 20 advocates wielding placards rallied outside the County Court in Melbourne as The Royal

Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse commenced its long-awaited inquiry.Victims gathered descended outside the court eagerly awaiting the outcome of the first hour-long hearing, some armed with signs which read: “You have the records of our abuse” and “Government OK’S abuse in state-run orphanages”.

Victims, organisations and advocates poured onto William St following the hearing, with some openly embracing and others appearing teary-eyed by the emotion of the inquiry’s launch.

Leonie Sheedy of the Care Leavers of Australia Network (CLAN) – a network for people raised in the nation’s orphanages, Children’s Homes and foster care - said the first day of proceedings had been “overwhelming” for the organisation’s members.

“The crimes our country is taking the crimes that were committed against children in orphanages and children’s homes, foster care and missions….they’re taking them seriously and we have a chance to have our stories on the public record,” she said outside the County Court today.

“Our families that don’t understand why we are the way we are…hopefully our families will understand us a bit better.

The children of Australia have lived with these stories at the bottom of their hearts. Our oldest member is 96 (years old). I call this, what happened to us – the 500,000 in orphanages and in children’s homes – Australia’s grubbiest little secret.

“We’ve been invisible to our society and politicians and we’re as equally deserving of services as any other Australia. A lot of us are consumed with anger because we’ve never been listened to.”

She said the organisation’s calculations had revealed over 18 years more than 3,300 children had run away from Victorian orphanages.

“I can’t say to you that it was all about sexual abuse, but it was certainly about the criminal, heinous crimes and the neglect and the child labour… that must have had a bearing on why these children absconded,” she said.

Ms Sheedy said CLAN’s members had a varied response to the Royal Commission’s launch.

“Our members are pleased on one hand that sexual abuse of children is going to be addressed by the Royal Commission, but they feel very mixed feelings that the unpaid labour and the criminal assaults are not going to be addressed by the Royal Commission,” she said.

“When children have lost their teeth because they’ve had their faces smashed into staircases and they’ve been thrown down stairs…children who have never been sent to school and given an education…How could this happen in the lucky country?

“This country needs to fess up. The churches and charities and every state government needs to have a moral compass on this issue and contribute to a reparations fund to repair people’s shattered lives.”

The Royal Commission would was “not a magic wand” which could erase the history, but it was the country’s only chance to have the truth told, she said.

“I think it probably will (take longer than expected) but this is our one chance to get it right and if it takes a long time, then so be it. People have lived a long time with this trauma,” she said.

CLAN member Charlie Walker protested outside court and said he would be presenting his evidence to the Commission after suffering years of abuse across a string of Victorian institutions he was housed in between the ages of nine days old to 15 years.

The 77-year-old said he was subjected to a range of abuse, including being locked up, having a bag placed over his head and threatened to be thrown into a river, as well as being bitten by rats.

“No words can really describe what happened,” he said.

“It’s finally starting, but I won’t be happy until this really gets underway and the truth comes out.

“There’s so much to get through…I highly doubt they are going to get anywhere with it. I just want the public to know what really happened to the kids. That’s all I want.”

Anthony and Chrissie Foster, whose daughters Katie and Emma were abused after enrolling in a Catholic primary school in Oakleigh in the late 1980s, walked out of the County Court arm-in-arm.

“Obviously it’s an incredibly historic and potentially important day for all victims of child sexual assault,” Mr Foster said.

“This is an opportunity for our country to right the wrongs of the past and create a new environment for children in the future.”

Mrs Foster, who penned the book Hell On The Way To Heaven about her families hardships, said she had felt a sense of satisfaction around the Royal Commission’s opening day.

“It’s a huge task but listening to what they’ve got planned, what they intend to do, fills me full of confidence,” Mrs Foster said.

“To sit in there with those powerful people and hear what they’re going to do for future children and to right the wrongs of the past…I am so overwhelmed and happy that it’s happening in our country. A first in the world probably. It’s just amazing.”

Mr Foster said the couple would ask the Victorian enquiry to pass on their previously submitted evidence for inclusion in the Commission.

“There’s a real potential there for the Victorian enquiry to be the basis for what happens in the rest of the country,” he said.

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